Automatic street-calling device.



R. M. MoGEE. AUTOMATIC STREET CALLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1909. 972,397. Patented 0ct.11,1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

133 ELLE- H L-H Dn v m dm mmlmm 4 mm c e 0 Md R. M. MGGEE'. AUTOMATIC STREET CALLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1909. Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

-WTLL R. M. MCGEE. AUTOMATIC STREET CALLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1909. 972 397. A Patented 001;. 11,1910.

4 SHEETS*SHEET 4.

R O Tll. N E V N Richmond MMc Gee Fig- 1.1

UNITED STATES PATENT onrron.

-RICHMOND M. MoGEE, OF DALLAS, TEXAS.

AUTOlVlIAIlIIC STREET-CALLING .DEVICEL Specification of Letters Patent. 7 v Patented Get, 11, 1910.

6. Application filed May 18, 1909. 1 Serial No. 496,816.

applicable to an electric car which will automaticallyannounce each street as the car approaches it. 7

Another object is to provide such a device as will not only call out the streets but will also automatically causev the name of each street to'be conspicuously displayed at the propertime. I

A further object isto relieve the car conductor of the responsibility of calling out each street, and to eliminate the possibility of his neglecting this duty byemploying a mechanical annunciator for'thepurpose.

A still further object is to-provide a deviceto be installed on street cars which will successively call out advertisements at reg u' lar intervals I p Finally, the object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described,

which will be strong, durable, simple and efficient, and comparatively easy to produce,

and one in which the various parts will not belikely to get out of working order.

lVith these and various other objects in view, the invention has relation to certain novel features of construction and operation, an example of which is described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a bottom view of the operating mechanism of the device, the casing containing the same being shown in section.

F ig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the device upon the line wm of Fig. 1, a diagram of upper extremity of the trolley pole, showing it n contact with the trolley device illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a side view of a portion of a spindle upon which a spur pinion, worm-wheel and spur-gear are mounted, the use of which will be made clea'rhereinafter. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of one of the drums upon which winds a web carrying the names of all the cross streets on the car-line, showing the frictionel'utch which is used in conjunction with each drum. Fig. 8 is a viewshowing the face of one of the semi-shrouded gears employed in street caller, whose obect will be fully described hereinafter.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings,-wherein like numerals'of refer encedesignate similar parts in all the figures, the numeral 1 denotes the 'casing,within which the mechanism of the device is contained. This casing is preferably to be attached in a conspicuous position upon the front of the car. The mechanism is operated by a motor 2, mounted upon a vertical spindle 3 and attached tothe side of the casing by feet 4. The motor 'is so wound and connected up as to permit of its direction of rotation being reversed. The reversing switch' 5 controls the direction of rotation, a lever 6, provided with a handle 7 serving to operate the switch. The wires 8 which transmit current to and from the -motor are connected one to the trolley-pole 9, and the other to the car trucks 10, this connection being shown diagrammatically at the left of 'Fig.1. Upon each extremity of the motor spindle, is mounted a beveled pinion' 11, engaging a similar pinion 12, carried byahorizontal spindle 13. The spindles 13 are homologously positioned within the casing and serve to communicate rotation to two homologous sets of mechanism, one of which operates for each direction of travel of the car. One of the worms 14;, which are mounted loose upon the spindles 13 is righthand, and the other left-hand' and they are, both provided with clutches lttadapting them to be thrown out of operation. These clutches are operated by bell crank levers 14", connecting them to the lever 6, so that when lever 6 is thrown reversing the motop, one of the worms 14: is made inoperative. The worms 11 communicate rotation to worm wheels 15, mounted on spindles 16. The spindles 16 carry also. drums or reels 17 which are loose thereupon and are made to rotate by bow-shaped friction clutches 18 attached to the worm-wheels 15, as made clear in Fig. 4. Upon these drums winds the belt or web 19, which carries the names of the cross streets in their successive order. One of the worms 20' which are fast upon the spindles 13 is right hand and the other left hand. Moreover, the two worms 14 and 20 carried by each spindle are one right hand and the other left hand. The purpose of this is made clear hereinafter. Each of the worms 20 actuates a wormlwheel 21, fast upon a transverse spindle 22. The spindles 22 carry also spur-pinions 23, which mesh with semi-shrouded gears 24 mounted upon transverse spindles 25. Upon each of the spindles 25 is mounted also a pulley 26, and

the-web 19 is conducted upon small idler pulleys 27 to the pulleys 26, between which it extends in a vertical position.

A glass window 28 provided in the fron of the casing 1 permits the street names to be read upon that portion of the web 19,

which extends vertically between the pulleys 26. The street names upon the web are positioned a distance apart equal to the circumference of the pulleys 26, so that when the web is properly adjusted, a street name apdirection and so that that direction of rotation will tend to carry the web toward whichever drum is winding on.

In the shroud .of each gear 24, is provided a pocket, one side of which is beveled and the other out at a right angle. Into each pocket a dog 29 pivoted at 30 is adapted to fit. Springs 31 bear upon the dogs '29 tend ing to retain them in their respective pockets and preventing any motion of the web when the mechanism is not in operation. The dogs 29 are provided at their pivotal ends with arms giving the dogs the form of hell crank levers. Electrical contacts 33 are" so positioned that when the dogs are drawn out of their respective pockets in the shrouds of the gears 24, the arms 32 make a closed electrical connection with the contacts 33. Each of the contacts 33 are connected to dogs 29. The solenoid .is provided with a soft iron core, which when current is passed through the coils is magnetized and attracts the armatures 35, one of which attached to each of the dogs. -When the dogs are A solenoid 34 is employed to actuate the drawn from their pockets, ,the motor is at the same time set into operation by the closing of its circuit as described. The solenoid is compound wound and is' in circuit with wires 36, one of which leads to the car trucks 10 and one to the contact maker at the top of the trolley pole 9. This contact maker is pivotally mounted upon the bifurcated trolleywheel bearing and is insulated therefrom by suitable material 37. A coiled spring 38 is attached to the contact maker and insulated therefrom, and serves to impart to it an upward impulse which is restricted by the pin 39. The contact maker is adapted to make a sliding contact with the trolley device 40, as shown in Fig. 3. A hook 41 on the top of this trolley device engages the neck of the insulator 41- to which the trolley guy wires attach, and a bolt connects the device with the lower portion of said insulator. A switch 42 preferably to be placed upon the back platform of the car adapts the solenoid and motor circuits to be closed manually, if for any reason, they fail to close automatically at the proper time.

' As the period during which the solenoid circuit remains closed will obviously be little more than instantaneous, the dogs 29 will be released immediately after being withdrawn from their pockets. Sufficient time will .elapse, however, to set the mechanism into operation, so that the dogs will descend upon the face of the rotating shroud and the gears 24 will complete a revolution before the dogs again enter their pockets. It is necessary that the motor be wound for a high speed so that the impulse transmitted to the gear 24 through the train of reduction gearing during the short period when the motor circuit is closed will be sufficient to cause a complete revolution of said gears. The entrance of the dogs into the pockets in the shrouds will limit the motion ofthe gear 24 to one revolution.

The cylinders 43. upon which are carried the phonographic records are mounted upon transverse spindles 44. These records carry the street names in their successive order, the order of succession being the reverse upon one record of that upon the other. After each street name one or more advertisements are recorded upon the record. so that the announcement of the street will be followed bythe calling out of advertising matter. Rotation is communicated to the spindles 44 by spur pinions 45 mounted thereupon and meshing with spurgears 46 carried by the spindles 22. The spur gears 46 are hidden from view in Fig. 1 by the worm wheels 21, but Fig. 4 shows one of them mounted upon its spindle.

Phonographic reproducers 47 are pirotally and slidably mounted upon transverse guide rods 48 by arms 49. A bell crank levcr 50 and a link 51 attach each extremity of ducer arms 49, and adapting one of the re producers to be thrown out of operation and the other to be made operative whenever the lever 6 is thrown, reversing the motor. The reproducers are made to travel along their records by feed screws 53; rotation is communicated to the feed screws from the spindles art trains of gearing 54, 55 and 56, the latter gear being mounted on the feed screw shaft. The reproducer arms are pro- .vided with semi-circular threaded grooves adapted to engage the feed screws and-feed the reproducers longitudinally along said screws. The reproducer arms slide upon the rods 48 and 52 as they travel along the screws 53. Flexible tubes 57 convey the air. vibrations set up by the reproducer dia-' phragms to the metallic tubing 58. An outlet 59 is provided to the tubing 58 to which additional tubing 60 may be attached, con-- I veying the air vibrations to each seat of the car. A suitable outlet 61 may be provided at each seat, so that several simultaneous announcements of each street will be made, or else one announcement may be made directly from the outlet 56 sufficiently loud to be heard throughout the car. It is intended that the lever 6 be manually reversed at the :end of each trip of the car, thus reversing the direction of travel of the tape, and

changing the records.

This device will not only be of service in notifying passengers of the streets, but will also acquaint new conductors with the streets upon their run.

It is obvious that the device may be applied to cars employing a third-rail instead of a trolley, bysimply providing a contact device to the rail similar to the device 40.

used upon the wire.

Iam aware that changes may be made in theform and proportion of parts and details of the device herein-described and shown as the preferable embodiment of my invention,

without departing from the'spirit or sacrificing the advantages thereof,'and I there forereserve the right to make such changes and alterations in said device as fairly come within thescope of the followingclaims.

VVhat I claim is: g

-1. In a phonographic street annunciator for an electric car, the combination with a casing and a motor inclosed therein, of contact devices fixed at intervals upon the trolley wire, a contact maker attached to the trolley-pole, and insulated therefrom, adapt ed to contact with said fixed devices upon the trolley and thereby close the motorcircuit, a phonographic record of the names of the cross streets upon the car-line rotated by the motor, a. phonographic "eproducer-acting upon said record, tubing conducting the sound vibrations from said reproducerto an tions necessary to bring a new'nameupon 1 the web before the window, and to cause the reproducer needle to traverse the same name upon the record.

2. In a phonographic annunclator for electric cars, the combination with a reversible electric motor, of contact devices fixed at intervals upon the trolley-wire, a contact maker attached to the trolley-pole and insulated therefrom, and adapted to close the circuit of said motor, two phonographic records of the cross-streets upon the car-line, rotated by said motor, the successive order of streets upon one record being the reverse of that upon the other, phonographic repro ducers acting upon said records, feed screws propelling the reproducers across the records, and a reversinglever adapted to reverse thedirection of rotation of the motor and at the same time throw one of the reproducers clear of its record and bring the other into contact with its record. 7

3. In a street annunciator for an electric car, the combination with a casing and a reversible electric motor therewithin, of contact devices fixed at intervals upon the trolley wire, a contact maker attach d to the trolley-pole, and insulated therefrom, adapted to contact with said fixed devices upon the trolley, a belt or web carrying the names of the cross streets upon the car-line, in their successive order, drums loose upon their shafts, upon which the extremities of the web wind, rotated by said motor, friction clutches, fast uponthe drum shafts adapted to impart rotation to said drums, mechanisn'i whereby the drum from which the web is winding off is made inoperative from the motor, when the rotation of the latter is reversed, a Window to the annunciator casing, and means, whereby the operation of the motor, each time its circuit-is closed is limited to the revolution necessary to bring a new name upon the web before the window. 4. In a phonographic street-annunciator for electric cars the combination with a casang, and an electr c motor therewithin, of

contact devices fixed at intervals upon the trolley wire, a contact maker attached to the -trolley-pole, and insulated therefrom, adapt- .ed to contact with said fixed devices,-and thereby close the circuit of said motor, two phonographio records of the cross streets upon the car-line, rotated by said motor, the successiveorder of streets upon one record being the reverse of that upon the other, phonographic reproducers acting upon said records, feed screws rotated by the motor,

feeding said reproducers upon their records, a belt or web carrying the names of the cross streets in their successive order, drums loose upon their shafts, upon which the extremities of the webare wound, rotated by said motor, friction clutches fast upon the drum shafts adapted to.impart rotation to said drums, pulleys about which the web turns,

means whereby thetravel of the web each time the motor is set into operation is limited to thcdistance between any two names thereupon, a window in the casing through which a street name may be read upon the web, and means whereby the motor may be reversed, the drum upon which the web is unwinding be made inoperative from the motor, one reproducer lifted from its record and the other lowered, simultaneously.

5. In an automatic, phonographic street annunciator for an electric car, the combination with contacts fixed at intervals upon the trolley-wire, and a contact device attached to the upper extremity of the trolleypole and insulated therefrom, adapted to make electrical connection w1th said. contact devices in -passing there-beneath, of an inclosed casing, a reversible electric motor therewithin, two phonographic records of the names of cross-streets upon the car-line, in their successive order, the succession upon onebei'ng the reverse of that on the other, and rotation being imparted to both from said motor, 'a phonographic reproducer adapted to act upon each of said records, a

rod upon which each-of said reproducers is slidably and pivotally mounted, feed screws propelling said reproducers across their records, operated by the motor, tubing conducting the air vibrations originating in said reproducers, a'web carrying the names of. the cross-streets upon the car-line 1n their successive order, drums loose on their spindles, upon which wind the extremities of said web, bow springs turning with the drum spindles and frictionally engaging the drums, communicating "rotation thereto, mechanism actuating the drum spindles from" the motor spindle, means whereby the drum from which the web is being unwound is made inoperative from the motor shaft,

a window to said casing, pulleys whereby adapted to make electrical connection with said device upon the trolley-wire, of an in closedv casing, a reversible electric motor therewithin, two phonographlc records of the names of cross streets upon the car-line in their successive order, the succession upon one belng the reverse of that upon the other,

and advertising matter being interposed between the names of each street on the record, rotation being imparted to both records from said motor, a phonographic reproducer acting upon each of said records, a rod upon which each of said reproducers is slidably and pivotally mounted, feed screws propelling said reproducers across their records, operated by the motor, tubing conducting the air vibrations originating in said reproducers, a web carrying the names of the cross streets upon the car line in their successive order, drums loose on their spindles upon which are wound the extremities of said Web, friction clutches fast upon the drum spindles bearing upon the drums "and communicating rotation thereto, a window to said casing containing the annunciator mechanism, pulleys whereby the web is conducted before said window, wheels fast upon the pulley shaft, provided each with a ratchet pocket, pivotally mounted dogs engaging in said pockets and adapted when withdrawn therefrom to close the circuit of said motor, a solenoid adapted to be electriitrified to magnetically withdraw said dogs "from their-pockets, and means whereby the motor is reversed, one reproducer is made inoperative and the other put into operation, and the communication of rotation from the motor to one of said drums is interrupted.

7. In a phonographic annunciator for electric cars, the combination with a reversible electric motor, of contact devices fired at intervals upon the trolley-wire, a con-' tact maker. attached to the trolley-pole and insulated therefrom, adapted to close the circuit of said motor, two phonographic records of the cross streets upon the car line, the successive order of the streets upon one record being the reverse of that upon the other, rotation being imparted to said records by the motor, phonographic reproducers acting upon the records, feed-screws propelling the reproducers across the records, tubing conducting the sound vibra- In testimony whereof I have signed my tions from the reproducers to each seat of a name to thisspecification in the presence of car, and a reversing lever adapted to reverse two subscribing Witnesses.

the direction of rotation of the motor, and RICHMOND M. MGGEE. at the same time to throw one of the repro- Witnesses:

duc ersf clear of its record, and bring the 4 JOHN S. MURRAY,

other reproducer into contact with its record. JESSIE KIRK. 

